That's Dr Mosimane, thank you: Pitso to receive honorary doctorate from University of Johannesburg

South Africa's most successful football coach, Pitso Mosimane, is set to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in a ceremony to be held on 25 July.  

UJ will confer Mosimane with an honorary Doctor of Philosophy for the work he has done in championing African football and fighting for it to be given more respect globally.

Mosimane made international headlines in 2022 when he was overlooked for the FIFA awards, despite having a better season than any manager in the world.

"Jingles" won two CAF Champions League titles (for the 2019-2020 and 2020-21 seasons) in eight months with Egyptian club Al-Ahly, which were accompanied by two CAF Super Cups and finishing third in the FIFA Club World Cup. 

Despite that success, he did not make the shortlist for the FIFA 2021 Coach of the Year award, an omission that was even criticised by the New York Times.

Six of the seven coaches FIFA shortlisted for the award that year were all based in Europe – Thomas Tuchel, Roberto Mancini, Pep Guardiola, Hansi Flick, Diego Simeone and Antonio Conte. The only outlier was Argentina's Lionel Scaloni, with the award going to Tuchel. 

A number of African football experts criticised FIFA's choice.

Since then, Mosimane has added more trophies to his decorated CV -he became the first South African coach to win three Champions League titles with two teams, with the first coming in 2016 with Mamelodi Sundowns. 

He has also won league titles in three countries, thanks to his exploits with Sundowns in South Africa, Al-Ahly in Egypt and helping Al-Ahli gain promotion to the Saudi Pro League in the Middle East. 

????Here we go!

Pitso Mosimane to receive an honorary doctorate from UJ in recognition of his notable success with great